Thomas Aquinas: Philosophy and Theology
Thomas Aquinas
Born into a noble family in Roccasecca, Italy (1224-1225), Thomas Aquinas studied at the Benedictine monastery of Montecassino and the University of Naples. He joined the Dominican Order in 1243, the year of his father’s death, despite not yet being a graduate. His mother, opposed to Thomas’ entry into a mendicant order, confined him to the family castle for over a year in a vain attempt to make him abandon the path he had chosen. He was released in 1245, and then traveled to Paris to complete his training. He studied with the philosopher Albertus Magnus, following him to Cologne. He later occupied a *cathedra* at the University of Paris and died in 1274.
Faith and Reason
If reason is holy, he argues, truth can be known, although in two ways: by reason and by faith. Reason knows from the data of the senses; however, faith knows part of the divine. Therefore, both are independent. The truths of faith surpass the capacity of human reason and are the object of theology, they cannot be demonstrated rationally and are accepted because they are said to have emerged directly from God. Instead, the truths of reason, that is, of philosophy, can be understood by the United States and are demonstrable rationally. Some truths can be demonstrated by reason, but God preferred to reveal them to us. When faith and reason converge (as in immortality and creation), then theology can use reason to know the truth (natural theology). Philosophy is, thus, at the service of theology, and as truth is unique, it is a mistake for philosophy to reach conclusions incompatible with faith.
Essence and Existence
To solve the problem of creation, he distinguishes essence and existence, that is, between the nature of a being (understood as potency or possibility, essence) and existence (effective, act). In God, essence and existence involve each other, because his nature implies his existence. In the other contingent beings, existence does not imply essence, whose “share of the act of existence” is created by God. The essence designates the act thanks to the existence created by God. It expresses the effective being, in fact, of an essence.
Existence of God
Revelation starts from the premise that God exists. It is not the first evident affirmation, because human knowledge starts from the senses, and the existence of God is not evident through them. Therefore, the first demonstration is a necessary rational part of created beings.
First Way: Of Movement
This is the cosmological proof, taken from Aristotle, based on *movement*. It starts from the observable fact that things in the world move. Well, *everything that moves is moved by another (metaphysical principle)*. Nothing is moved by itself. So, if what moves is in turn moved by another, and this by another, one cannot proceed in this way to infinity. Without a prime mover, nothing would ever have started, so it is necessary to reach a prime mover that is not driven by anyone, a prime unmoved mover that is God.
Second Way: Of Efficient Causality
It is based on *efficient causality*, also taken from Aristotle. It starts from the fact that everything that appears exists as an effect of a cause *(superior effect, metaphysical principle)* that is different from and prior to itself. Nothing can be the cause of itself. There is nothing that is its own cause, because it would have to be prior to itself, and this is not possible. One cannot extend to infinity this series of efficient causes, thus, there must exist a first *efficient cause (uncaused cause)*, which is God.
Third Way: Of the Contingency of Beings
It starts from the existence of contingent beings, that is, things that can cease to exist, that is, beings whose nature appears and disappears, which proves that they can be or not be, therefore, they are not necessary. They carry within them the possibility of not existing, that is, there was a time when nothing existed. These contingent beings then demand the existence of a *necessary being*. That which cannot not exist, *(metaphysical principle)* necessary by itself, that cannot not exist, because it is the cause of the others, is God. Inspired by Maimonides.
Fourth Way: Of the Degrees of Perfection
It starts from the fact that there are diverse degrees of perfection in beings (goodness, truth, nobility…). The existence of any characteristic in the first degree implies the existence of an absolutely perfect being, by approximation to which the maximum is ordered, maximum perfection, which is its cause, is God. *The degrees of perfection only participate in it (metaphysical principle)*. Inspired by Plato and Aristotle.
Fifth Way: Of the End
It starts from the consideration of the universe or cosmos as an ordered whole. From the order of the natural world, we can consider that this order is not able to give itself even in those beings that are not intelligent (natural bodies) that act with intention for an end. Then there must exist some intelligent being that directs all things, endowed with a supreme ordering intelligence, which is God.